The recent visits to Beijing by French President Francois Hollande and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Margaret Ashton have again put China-EU relations in the spotlight.

China and EU are partners not rivals, and their cooperation is mutually beneficial, officials and analysts increasingly say.

First, China needs advanced technology and management from developed European countries to satisfy its needs for realizing industrialization, informationization, urbanization and agriculture modernization.

For the debt-ridden EU, it is a good way to explore overseas markets to cast off sluggish growth. In return, recovery of the EU economy will offer China new momentum and a sound external environment.

Secondly, joint China-EU development will contribute to the creation and improvement of a development mode combining market efficiency with social equity, which helps the shift to a more balanced and rational world economic order.

Thirdly, deepening the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership is conducive to solving major global issues, such as nonproliferation, energy security and climate change.

As Ashton said in a written interview with Xinhua, "The EU is convinced of the importance of enhancing the EU-China relationship to address global challenges and to remain a major source of prosperity for all."

The global system is fluctuating with the transition between old and new orders, and the path toward a politically multi-polar and economically integrated world is not even.

Therefore, China and EU, both major players of the world, need to enhance cooperation on important events, and thus help bring parties of international disputes to the dialogue table.

This year will mark the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the EU-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which makes it a right occasion for deepening their cooperation to jointly tackle globalization challenges and promote world development.